The Creations And Inspirations Of An Intuitive Artist

Posts Tagged ‘the art challenge’

I feel it is a natural progression from last week’s prompt of black and white. They can be simple or complex but are always striking thanks to the more defined play they create between negative and positive space. This week’s challenge is to incorporate a silhouette into your image, whether it be the sole focus or something more subtle.

This week’s challenge is a little more specific; a still life with a difference. In art we look and absorb imagery to create. When we draw something we take time with an object and try to create an image that represents it in our chosen media. When we get really familiar with something it is easier for our imagination to take over and for us to draw from what is solely in our head than what is placed in front of us.

So for this week, pick an object you have never drawn before, it could be something you have lying around your house, a fruit or vegetable, anything really. Spend a minute really looking at your chosen subject then cover it up and draw it from memory alone. Feel free to take a picture of what you have chosen to draw to post alongside your image if you like.

They say that if you find a white feather it’s a sign from the angels that your guardian is close by and looking out for you. It’s a nice thought though I tend not to believe so heavily in it since moving to a seaside town where I would often wake up to huge mountains of feathers in my driveway from seagulls that had had run ins with cats or foxes. Still I like the sentiment and I have been finding a lot of different feathers lately. They are, in my opinion, so beautiful and delicate in all their shapes, sizes and colours.

I dislike drawing and painting portraits. I have always avoided them save for in my art journal where I didn’t have to share them. I never felt like I found my own style with them and I discovered very early on that I was easily put off by wanting things to look perfect and realistic when the rest of my art is bold, colourful and a mix of abstraction and expressionism.

For this portrait prompt I took my acrylic paints into the garden. I had no plan I just started piecing together lines and blocks of colour. I let her surface on her own, she isn’t of anyone, she just is.

It was challenging, not only because of my general dislike of painting portraits but also because the sketchbook page was fairly small and I think that it would have been interesting to develop on a larger scale where I could add more colour, more bold brush strokes and more movement in the way I painted it. It did, however, make me rethink my approach to portraits and how to let my natural style flow into them rather than trying to force it to be something else.

I was working with silhouettes again. It started as trees on the horizon line during sunset but the trees went wrong and I decided a tower would be better. It then morphed into something that made me think of war with a graveyard/burial site. Not the best picture but that’s my own fault for leaving the photography so late and having to use artificial light.

From landmark to the broader topic of landscape, whether it be the orientation or subject matter.
There is such a huge variation of beautiful and inspiring places all around us. Pick one that inspires you and use it to create an image.

22. Portrait

Time to turn that page around and look at portrait, whether in orientation, subject matter or both.
Whether it be someone you know, a self portrait or an image of a fictional character, create a portrait of the subject of your choice in the style of your choice

This page is based very loosely on a photograph I took on Glastonbury Tor several years ago. It’s a photograph that I love for many reasons, not just because of the memories it reminds me of but of the things that interest me spiritually and artistically. Negative space is a big part of that. I like to simplify and play with strong shapes.

It’s a simple wash of watercolour with a thick layer of acrylic paint to show the structure of the doorway. The Tor itself isn’t really that big of a structure but it is prominent up on the hill overlooking the town making. You can really be nowhere other than Glastonbury when you see it.